President Donald J. Trump, who ran heavily on Immigration Reform promising to make America safe again, was presented with a very real opportunity this week after a San Francisco jury acquitted an illegal immigrant of murder.

According to Gallup, President Trump's job approval, over the past week, decreased by three percentage points to 34% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President increased four percentage point to 61%.

Trump Tax Reform

President Donald Trump has claimed victory and one step closer to fulfilling his first major legislative victory in a wide sweeping tax reform that will alleviate much of the tax burden for the middle class.

Members of Senate voted Friday, December 1, 2017 to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, sending a shock wave through the American public by passing the bill at 2:00am, Saturday morning.

"The Senators who voted for these historic tax cuts did a great service to their constituents as they supported putting America first, growing the economy, and rebuilding our great country. The policies in this bill will cut taxes for hardworking families and put our economy on a path of sustainable economic prosperity and job creation. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reclaim America's great destiny. The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to fulfill the promise we made to deliver historic tax cuts for the American people by the end of the year," the President said.

With both Houses passing a similar bill, each will need to hammer out a bill that addresses the differences which is why the conference committee is formed.

"Some of those differences are dollar amounts, with each chamber setting brackets and deductions differently. There are also substantive differences that could face push-back from House members, particularly conservatives, that have to be resolved before a bill could reach President Trump's desk. The House could just pass the Senate bill and send it to Trump next week, but 97% of study committee members oppose that. "We're gonna go to conference unless the Senate makes unbelievable changes to their bill in the next few days," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who chairs the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, told reporters Thursday, reported the Chicago Sun times.

Immigration

The politicizing of Immigration Reform and Sanctuary City's came under renewed and intense scrutiny this week as a San Francisco jury refused to convict Garcia Zarate, an illegal immigrant, for the unintentional murder of Kate Steinle.

"Yesterday's verdict in San Francisco underscores the danger to public safety when our Nation fails to enforce its laws. Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal immigrant and convicted felon who had been deported from the United States five times. He, and countless other criminal illegal immigrants like him, should never be allowed to threaten our citizens. It's important for Congress to secure our borders and provide the resources, including more ICE officers, needed to deport criminal illegal aliens and to finally stop sanctuary city policies that cause needless loss of innocent life," President Trump said.

Sanctuary Cities, which have increasingly come under scrutiny for harboring illegals, who are deeply involved in criminal activities, from the notorious MS-13 Gangs, who terrorize the streets of America, from Long Island to Los Angeles, to non-violent Dreamers and Border Babies.

Immigration issues which are obviously more complex than a single incident and involve multiple governments and nations, and should have multiple and tiered responses and requirements and should be a compromise of the total amnesty supported by Democrats and the Wall supported by the Republican leadership.

Safety and security concerns are very real and all too well know with the most recent case of Katy Steinle in the public eye and a heartbreak for her family and travesty of justice and black mark on the judicial process and the belief that all immigrants are cut from the same cloth is a generalization, misrepresentation and false. The difficulty is coming up with a compromise that will satisfy all.

Special Counsel Mueller Presses On

Special Counsel Robert A. Mueller's investigation into collusion, by the President's inner circle of advisors and high ranking members of the Transition team, has gained credibility with the recent guilty plea by Trump's former National Security Advisor.

With the main, and singular, objective of the Mueller Investigation is "to investigate Russian Interference with the 2016 presidential election," as United States Intelligence had confirmed with high probability Russian interference in the 2016 Election.

After months of investigation and grad jury presentation, the first indictment was returned against George Papadopoulos, a former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Candidate Trump's Presidential campaign. He pled guilty to a single charge of making false statements to the F.B.I. about contacts he had with the Russian government while working for the Trump Campaign. He agreed as part of the plea deal to cooperate fully and truthfully with Mueller investigation.

Richard "Rick" W. Gates III, a former political consultant, was indicted on eight counts including Conspiracy Against the United States, Money Laundering, and False Statements. His former boss, Paul Manafort, was also indicted on nine counts, including Conspiracy Against the United States, Money Laundering, and False Statements. Each entered a Not Guilty plea.

Lt. General Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor appointed by President Donald Trump, was indicted on one count of false statements and entered a "Guilty" plea. Flynn is the fourth member of the Trump transition team to be indicted and the second to plead guilty.

Flynn also identified Jared Kushner as the Senior Official who directed him to get "the ball rolling" in making contact with foreign heads of state and it was President elect Trump who directed "Flynn as well as McFarland (K.T. McFarland) during that period to contact the Russians while directing the team to contact 12 other countries" reported Foxnews.com.

In the plea deal presented and accepted by the former National Security Advisor he has agreed to "cooperate fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly" with the probe, with sentencing delayed until those efforts "have been completed."

President Trump's entire Transition Team were under investigation even before the president was inaugurated as the general belief held and remains members of candidate Trump's closest advisors approached a single high ranking Russian working in Putin's government with a proposition that included an exchange of sensitive information in exchange for assistance in winning the General Election.

German Potsdam Christmas Market Bomb Hoax

German officials thwarted a terrorist attack along the heavily trafficked, Potsdam Christmas Market, after discovering a suspicious package determined to be an extortion plot. A lorry truck mowed through the same open air Christmas pop up market last year killing twelve.

After further investigation police have determined the Potsdam bomb was an extortion plot aimed at DHL and have concluded that is did not involved terrorism. The bomb, found Friday, forced officials to evacuate the entire area which caused panic, widespread feelings of dread, fear and remembrance of the Lorry truck that mowed through the market one year ago.

Today, however the conclusion did not result in the loss of life, nor a heartbreaking Yuletide season. The quick actions and expert training of the terrorism tactile teams brought this plot to a conclusion. Of course now the investigation takes a new turn as German officials are investigating the extortion plot and expect an arrest soon.

The Postdam Christmas Market has reopened with Christmas shoppers and tourists enjoying the local flavor and holiday experience.

North Korea Sanctions

North Koran leader Kim Jong Un, upped the possibility of global sanction and repercussion has launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile this week, boosting the nuclear warhead had the possibility of reaching mainland United States.

President Donald Trump spoke this week with South Korean President Moon Jae-In in the wake of North Korea launch an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

The two leaders "reaffirmed their strong commitment to compelling North Korea to return to the path of denuclearization at any cost" and discussed a series of possible next steps in response to Kim Jong-Un's provocation and how "to bring maximum pressure to bear on the regime."

President Trump also "committed to sending a high-level delegation to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics."

Argentinian officials have reclassified the search and rescue mission for the missing submarine that disappeared from radar 18 days ago with 44 crew members aboard, acknowledging there is no expectation of finding the crew of the ill-fated vessel alive.

Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi has provided transparent reports and updates regarding final transmissions from the German made vessel and the disappearance which occurred after water had entered the snorkel "and caused one of the submarine's batteries to short circuit. An explosion was later detected around the time and place where the San Juan last made contact," reported News9.com.au.

The mission is now classified as search and recovery.

Stanford Rapist, Brock Turner, Files Appeal of Conviction

Brock Turner, the former Stanford Swimmer, who was convicted of rape and received a six month sentence in a shocking has filed an appeal citing prosecutorial misrepresentation mistaken of facts in the case.

Lawyers for Turner, who has recently registered as a sex offender in his home state of Ohio, filed an 178 page document indicting the prosecution mislead the jury by indicating Turner raped Emily Doe, the victim, behind a garbage dumpster causing the jury to believe he was trying to hide his action.

Turner has indicated, the dumpster, and what is considered the back verses the front would offer partial coverage or a level of privacy, indicting he had the knowledge and was capable of determining his actions were wrong in the same way someone wears a mask to conceal his identity during a crime. Turner's lawyers have contented he did not rape the victim behind the dumpster and had no intent of masking his identity even as he "ran off" when he was discovered by two other students, which is a strong indicator of knowledge and determination of wrong/criminal action.

The litmus test of consent, which was at the core of the trial and will be again. The Prosecutor has indicated they believe in the guilt of Brock Turner and if necessary will try him again.

Brock, who is a child of privilege, a factor that was presented, as he was a star athlete, attended a private Ivy league university, and had a level of entitlement. His father, deemed the 20 minute rape as "20 minutes of action" and his child should not have to pay the price essentially for the female's decision to attended the on campus party and engage in a high levels of alcoholic consumption which deprived her of the ability to make lucid, coherent, considered, decisions.

Should the conviction along with the sentence, which was considered a travesty of justice by advocates and resulted in a campaign to have Santa Clara Judge Aaron Pensky be recalled. The campaign had both support and opposition. The campaign resulted in Pensky being reassigned to the Civil Division of the California Court System.

If the appeal is successful Turner will be tried again and runs the risk of a sentence closer to the original recommended six years in prison or more.

Matt Lauer, the veteran Today Show Host, was terminated this week after a female employee had the courage to step forward risking career assassination and file a report with management for an alleged rape at the Sochi Olympics.

NBC Newsgroup Chairman, Mr. Andrew Lack notified Lauer's, 59, colleagues minutes before airtime, leaving the team to cope and grapple with the enormity of the allegations.

Lack said in a memo, "While this is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident."

In the days following the allegation which included modifying his 30 Rock office door to lock from his desk, multiple on-location rapes, exposing himself, gifting staffers with sex toys and explicit notes, and playing the game, "Fuck, Marry, Kill," meaning there is another person involved an accomplice of sorts to his behavior. One also wonders as the allegations warrant does fuck mean rape to Lauer.

The possibility of masking his predilection with word choice is not unusual as the world has witnessed over the past months as many powerful men have been outed by their histories and in description or response to the allegations use many different word choices to rationalize rape in their minds and hope for a sympathetic, understanding, audience to agree.

The last we have heard of Lauer he had released his own statement of apology and of course had his lawyer wrangle with the NBC brass for the $30million dollar payout his contract guaranteed him. NBC Executives have stated Lauer will not be paid for anytime past his last day.

Haute Tease

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BEVERLY HILLS, CA – One hundred four scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 85th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

“Cold Grey Light of Dawn,” Hudson Moore’s newest song is featured in the end credits of the recently released revenge filled western, “Sweetwater,” which stars January Jones, Ed Harris and Jason Isaacs.

Cary Phillips and Dr. Doug Roble have accepted invitations to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing the Council’s 2015–2016 membership roster to a total of twenty-five.

There are resorts all across North America, and each one of them has its own character — not to mention acreage, snowfall, elevation and amenities — so your choices are far from limited. To help you plan future ski excursions, WanderBat compiled this list of the best ski resorts from coast to coast (including a few in Canada).

Due to fire and smoke damage from the recent Northern California wildfires, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, 5200 Sonoma Hwy, Napa, has rescheduled the opening of its next exhibition, Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times, for January 27, 2018.